Water shrew
| Water shrew | ||||||||||||
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Water shrew ( Neomys fodiens ) (dead find) |
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| Neomys fodiens | ||||||||||||
| ( Pennant , 1771) |
The water shrew ( Neomys fodiens ) is one of the three species of the genus water shrew from the family of shrews (Soricidae) that live in Europe and northern Asia . To distinguish it from the two other Neomys species, it is also known as the Eurasian water shrew . It populates the bank areas of near-natural waters in large parts of the Palearctic .
Mark
The species is the largest shrew in Europe. The head-body length is 70-96 mm and the tail length 47-77 mm. The animals weigh 15–20, rarely up to 25 g. The fur is glossy black on the upper side, the underside is variable from silvery white to blackish brown, often with a hint of rust brown. The species is well adapted to aquatic life. The fur is long and dense, the underside of the tail has a bristle keel over its entire length, which serves as an oar, and the rear feet have bristles that promote propulsion. The water shrew is one of the few poisonous mammals in Central Europe. The secretion produced by the poison glands located under the tongue is fatal in animals up to mouse size.
distribution
The distribution area of the water shrew covers large parts of the northern Palearctic . It extends in a west-east direction from Great Britain and north-west Spain to the Amur and the Sakhalin peninsula on the Pacific , in a north-south direction in the western part of the area from northern Norway to central Italy and northern Greece .
It is absent in Europe in Iceland and Ireland , on the Iberian Peninsula south of the Pyrenees and on all Mediterranean islands and is limited to the mountains in the rest of the Mediterranean region and in south-eastern Europe.
habitat
The water shrew colonizes near-natural bank areas of all types of water, including sea shores, but also swamps, wet forests and meadows and even fields in the north of the distribution area. The species occurs in the lowlands up to an altitude of 2500 m.
Way of life
Water shrews are very good swimmers and divers. The food consists of aquatic insects and their larvae, small crustaceans, snails as well as small fish and frogs, which are mainly captured by diving. The burrows are dug themselves or taken over by other mammals and always have an exit to the water. Reproduction takes place from April to September. A female has 2 to 3 litters a year, each with 4 to 11 young. The young animals weigh 0.6 g at birth, the eyes open after 20 to 24 days and the suckling period is 38 to 40 days. In the wild, the animals reach a maximum age of 18 months.
Existence and endangerment
In Germany, the water shrew is listed as "endangered" (category 3) on the Red List due to its close ties to near-natural bodies of water and the endangerment of these habitats through water management and intensification of use . As a specially protected animal species, it is under nature protection in Germany. According to the IUCN, the world population is considered to be safe ("least concern").
There are holders in Europe, Russia and Great Britain. A former German owner was the Berlin Zoo .
literature
- Anthony J. Mitchell-Jones, Giovanni Amori, Wieslaw Bogdanowicz, Boris Krystufek, PJH Reijnders, Friederike Spitzenberger, Michael Stubbe, Johan BM Thissen, Vladimiŕ Vohralik, Jan Zima: The Atlas of European Mammals. Poyser, London, 1999, ISBN 0-85661-130-1 , pp. 60-61.
- Erwin Stresemann (founder), Konrad Senglaub (ed.): Excursion fauna of Germany. Volume 3: Vertebrates. 12th, heavily edited edition. G. Fischer, Jena et al. 1995, ISBN 3-334-60951-0 , pp. 371-372.
Web links
- Neomys fodiens in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: Amori, G. (Small Nonvolant Mammal Red List Authority) & Temple, H. (Global Mammal Assessment Team), 2008. Retrieved on October 15 of 2008.
- Animal of the year 2016: the water shrew. Pro Natura , accessed on October 27, 2018 .
Individual evidence
Tree Frog (1998) | Beaver (1999) | Lynx (2000) | Golden Eagle (2001) | Wood ant (2002) | Swallowtail (2003) | Brown Hare (2004) | Sand lizard (2005) | Alpine Ibex (2006) | Grayling (2007) | Demoiselle (2008) | Brown Bear (2009) | Eucera longicornis (2010) | Earthworm (2011) | Brown Long-eared (2012) | Midwife Toad (2013) | Feldgrille (2014) | Grass snake (2015) | Water shrew (2016) | Red Deer (2017) | Ermine (2018) | Fireflies (2019)